Delhi, August 15, 2024 — The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to significantly lower the qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET PG 2025-26.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia stated that maintaining vacant postgraduate medical seats is not in the public interest and upheld the NBEMS decision.
The petitioners argued that lowering the cut-offs would compromise the quality of doctors. However, the Court responded that NEET PG is merely an entrance exam, and postgraduate specialization will be undertaken after qualifying. “This exam does not directly judge the quality of doctors. They will undergo PG courses to acquire skills,” the Bench remarked.
The plea was filed by Sanchit Seth, amid controversy over the NEET PG 2025-26 admissions process. After two rounds of counseling, the NBEMS reduced the qualifying percentile from 50th to 7th for general candidates and to the zero percentile for reserved categories, allowing candidates with very low or negative scores to become eligible for counseling.
A separate PIL challenging this reduction is currently pending before the Supreme Court, which has yet to be listed due to procedural issues.
During the hearing, government counsel Advocate T Singhdev explained that the decision to lower the cut-offs was a policy move to fill nearly 10,000 vacant PG seats. “The government is entitled to do this, given the large number of unfilled seats. The pool of eligible candidates needed to be expanded,” he said. Singhdev also noted that some doctors with higher merit tend to avoid certain courses, while lower-merit candidates opt for them.
Petitioners’ counsel expressed concerns about the quality of candidates, emphasizing that their aim was not to leave seats vacant but to ensure competent doctors.
After hearing both sides, the Court dismissed the petition, endorsing the government’s decision to lower the cut-offs to fill the vacant seats.